Monday, February 6, 2012

Cabin Fever

What's the best way to get over those cabin fever winter blues? Why, quilt those blues away, of course. Every quilter knows that. I just got back from teaching at the Cabin Fever quilt retreat in Waterloo, Iowa. Such a fun time! Everyone I met was so wonderful and welcoming. I got to reunite with some friends I met the last time I was in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and also meet some new quilting friends. AND see the Civil War Commemorative Quilt Exhibit, which I will talk about more later this week.

The drive from my home in Illinois to Iowa was strange - dense patches of fog almost all the way. Luckily, we left late in the morning and arrived before nighttime. Lots of fog pictures, I know, but it was all so eerie I couldn't resist showing you.

You couldn't see anything on either side of the road at times. Then the sun would come out and it would be fine.

Crossing the Great Mississippi River

I'm not fond of bridges . . .

Setting up.

Choosing your fabric and playing around with color is sometimes the best part of beginning a project and we left plenty of time for that.

Unlike a class, a retreat is good for working on other projects too. Carolyn brought along her pile of little house blocks.

Karan made this cute little pincushion and thread catcher for Shelly.

Karan made one for me when I was sick last year.

And now a thread catcher too. Thanks, Karan!

Sheri brought her Dear-Jane-in-progress. Only a few more rows left and then she'll get to the triangles.

Karan made this quilt for her granddaughter from Jo Morton's Peppermint Twist pattern.

Beautiful, isn't it?

I gave a presentation after Show & Tell on Friday evening.

I knew you'd like to see this Schoolhouse quilt (from my Prairie Children book) that Marge made for her mother. In the center is a photo of the actual school her mother attended as a child.

The retreat was a great chance to make some headway on other projects too. Karan is also working on a lovely quilt from another Jo Morton pattern. Love that border print!

Chris brought in a few antique doll quilts to show me.

You don't see many appliqued doll quilts. This one was really special.

Robin's quilt was reproduced from an antique top she found and she tried to match the fabrics to the original. So cute and quirky.

Then, on the second day, everyone worked on the Album quilt from The Civil War Sewing Circle.

The retreat was held at the Grout Museum in Waterloo, which also housed the Civil War Commemorative Quilt exhibit everyone is talking about. Robin, the museum curator (above), allowed me to take photos so I'm working on putting together a slide show of the exhibit for you to see and I will get that up on the blog as soon as I can, maybe tomorrow or Wednesday. It was a good trip and I hope I get a chance to return to Iowa soon. And perhaps take all of you along with me! Wouldn't that be fun?

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In the meantime, are you still working on the Broken Dishes quilt for this month? Cut your pieces and prepare to sew them together this week.

What a wonderful post Kathy! You all look you had a wonderful time! Nice to see some of the ladies bought along their Featherweights too! The little antique quilts are just amazing, so inspiring!! Thankyou for sharing so many great photos, even the road trip there, nice to see the Mississippi River etc!!!!

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I'm a quilt designer and author of four quilting books for Martingale & Co. I love making small quilts with an antique look and find inspiration in quilts from the past and the women who made them. Follow me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KathleenTracyQuilts.
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